Outdoor Wood Furnace Info
Outdoor Furnaces - Manufacturers WITH EPA-Certified Models => HeatMaster => Topic started by: BIG AL on December 27, 2016, 07:49:05 AM
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So with the holidays and a delay on starting our next house I have been home more than usual. I have noticed a couple of things that I can't explain. First it seems like sometimes there is a lot of smoke coming from the stack , never really saw that before. Second it's relatively warm here and we are using more wood than normal. I cleaned the out the bottom chamber , not much in there. I checked and cleaned the bypass door to make sure it was closed tight. The damper is clean and working properly. All my wood is well seasoned oak , maple and cherry that has been top covered since October , was going to check the moisture content today. Can a leaky door seal cause any of this? Second year with this boiler , and first time I've had issues that I can't say I caused directly.
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It could effect it Al but the first thing that I would check is that the damper is operating correctly, if it sticks in the open position, that would definitely effect the burn quantity.
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I have looked at the damper several times. I seems to be doing what is supposed to relative to the logo control. I have watched it open and close in a cycle. Anything else I should look into. what is the best way to see if air is getting in where it isn't supposed to?
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Visible smoke around a gasket when it's in the off cycle, how does the coal bed look, is it raked off fairly level?
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Yeah I keep my coal bed leveled , really burned it down pretty good the other night but its built back up now. So if I don't have visible smoke coming from the doors they are tight enough? or should be? The other day the boiler was running for a long time with lots of smoke , pulled in the driveway and I thought there was a problem smoke was going across the street. went over to the boiler and everything was normal. Fire was burning in the fire box but it wasn't gassing in the lower chamber. I moved the wood around a little and no change so I let it do its thing. that was the case a couple times in the last few days. This morning I went out there and it was burning and looked like a jet engine under there? scratching my head
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Perhaps some pinky wood made it into the firebox?
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maybe but I don't really have any of that wood with the punky outsides left. I'll be keeping a close eye on it and see if I spot anything unusual.
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Sounds like wet wood to me. Try splitting a couple pieces and taking the mc. If not that it Sounds like you are making wood gas but you don't have either enough heat enough secondary air to light off the gas.
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I’ve had my G400 do that a time or two, mainly burning all rounds and sometimes the center will burn up and after you poke around a bit you’ll find the nozzle is wide open with nothing around it.
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Been raining for a day or so here. Poked around my wood piles under the covers and all my wood is 20% or less except the maple I just split is 30%. I split some maple a couple weeks ago and I stacked and covered it. It's already at 26%. It will be good and cold when I burn that if I even get into it this year. 55 and raining here most of the day and it ran like a champ. Maybe just an isolated incident.
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Really strange. I have never had that happen with seasoned wood that is split. Rounds I can see doing it because rounds can't sit on the coal bed.
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Mine was doing it a few days ago. It had burned the coal bed down fairly far and when I reloaded it, a piece of wood got right on top of the nozzle and was sealing it off too much. I just shifted it around a bit and it quit smoking.
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Mine was doing it a few days ago. It had burned the coal bed down fairly far and when I reloaded it, a piece of wood got right on top of the nozzle and was sealing it off too much. I just shifted it around a bit and it quit smoking.
that was something I considered , I did stack several square splits over the center/nozzle. If the coal bed was low it very well could have been blocking the nozzle. I'm going to pay closer attention to that theroy
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My G200 will do that if the wood bridges and hangs up not falling down onto the coal bed over the nozzle. Then the coal bed burns down and makes it hard to gas.
I am burning some left over slab wood now (all hardwood), moisture content is around 18% and it has a tendency to hang up easily. I think I will need to split the wider pieces to try to prevent the hang up problems. When mine is gassing you can actually hear it from the outside like a jet engine sound you mentioned Bid Al.
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Hey schoppy, how about trying an experiment for me with that slab wood if you can and post the results?
I would like for you to rake your coals level and then try stacking your slabs vertically instead of laying them flat, keep it as tight as you reasonably can, start stacking from the rear and work your way forward. Pictures would be wonderful!
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Hi Slim, haven't thought about loading the slab wood that way before. Most of my slab wood is too long to go in sideways or perpendicular to the gasser slot if I understand the way you want me to try it. I will try it both ways, perpendicular and parallel to the gasser slot and vertical or on edge to see how it works. It has been pretty mild here so I have only been loading it with approximately half loads and still getting 12 hour burns times easily. I'll try to get some pictures also, probably will need my daughters help to get them posted though.
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Understand, I'm saying stack them by leaning them against the back wall standing up, keep them as tight as you can and fill it. It's just an experiment with slabwood, I'd try it myself but the 400 is a long way back and I don't have any hardwood slabs.
One of our illustrious professors here in Maine designed a boiler eons ago that loaded from the top with vertical wood to stop bridging so I'm just curious if it would work well with slabs?
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You should build a jet stream Slim, there are still a few of those boilers in use still.
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Those jet streams are cool.
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Well Slim now that I understood what you were asking I tried it. Stacking it as vertical as I could, the majority of the charred wood ends up at the back wall as it burns. It still bridged in the middle but didn't go out as I have adjusted the run times during non calls for heat. I have included a few pictures if they come through ok but it may be hard to see the hollowed out center above the gasser slot.
I think the biggest issue with slab wood is so much surface area of the wood gasses too quickly. Shortly after loading it this morning it was roaring but all the smoke wasn't being burned completely like it normally does. I got a good deal on the slab wood but I will be glad when it's gone.
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You hit the nail on the head with the slabs gassing off to quickly because of the surface area, I refer to it as flashing off whenever I'm talking to a potential customer at the shows, they seem to get it right away then, Thanks for trying the experiment, I had a feeling they wouldn't fall in well enough, now we know!
It didn't look like you had a very deep coal bed in there or was I just not seeing it? I try to keep at least 6 inches or so in my 400 and then I put my largest piece of wood in the center right over the nozzle and smaller stuff to the sides.
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I don't know if I have ever had a 6" bed of coals. This morning I probably had about 3" with another couple inches of ash under the coals. Our temps have only been in the upper 20's to mid 30"s for highs and teens to lower 20's for lows. Half a load is giving me 12 plus hours of burn time. Seem like I would have to load it way up to get a 6" coal bed in the morning or end of day.
Can't get the upper door seal to stop leaking creosote and it has gotten worse with the slab wood. Looking like I will need to change the gasket after season, just never has sealed good on the door bottom. Almost looks like the gasket isn't fully there as it is not as thick on the bottom as the rest of the door.
Happy New Year but don't celebrate too hard.
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I try to keep the coal bed just below the side panels after it is raked level. I have heard that keeping it higher can cause moisture buildup behind them.
I only burned one bundle of slabs in mine so far and seemed to work ok.
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Using the slab wood causes the inside of my primary combustion area to be a lot more moist than using regular firewood. Tonight I looked real close at the bottom of my loading door since it had been dripping more than ever. I could definitely see how the moisture was running down the bottom of the inside of the door and into the top of the seal then coming out the bottom of the seal but not through the contact area of the door frame. It is going around the seal on the inside of the seal.
Hey RSI, what unit are you burning your slab wood in? Is your unit at the shop or your home? Did you get your slab wood from the place I told you about? I'd be interested to see how yours is running on slab wood. Are you using straight slab wood or mixing it with other firewood?
Questions-questions-questions! Happy New Year.
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I am running mine at home. I just had one bundle that I burned so far. The rest I have left is back behind in the shed so I can't get to it. It is from that place and was all Ash wood. I got it last winter so it was pretty dry.
I used it straight until I used it up. I think it was a couple weeks.
Are you going to be home at all during the daytime this week? If you want, I could come up and take a look at your door leak. I think I can get you a loaner door to use if you want to get the gasket replaced.
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I am off tomorrow, Monday, but after that back to work. I haven't contacted Ryan yet, sort of resigned myself to replacing it after the season, so I don't have the replacement gasket or sealant. I have cleaned up the creosote streaks on the air actuator cover so many times with Purple Power the decal on the cover is bleaching out. But, knock on wood, the door leak is the only issue I have had with my G200. SlimJim hit the nail on the head when he said the is the right size for my loads.
Slept in late this morning cause we went to Church last night. It was 15+ hours from loading last night, and only about a half load last night, still had decent coals left. Decided to clean out the bottom and then loaded it with half a load of slab wood. Water temp was below 140 but took off and gassed right away. This time the stack emissions were as clean as can be. Maybe burning the slab wood I need to keep the bottom cleaner to gas completely?
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If it doesn't stop smoking, you might want to check the air passages on the refractory on the bottom of the firebox. Sometimes these can clog and won't allow enough air into the lower chamber.